Membership Reaches Half a Million in Brazil

“The growth of the kingdom of God in this part of the world will be slow in its beginning, gradually speeding up, reaching a time of lengthy stride and great vision,” said Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve in December 1925 when he dedicated South America to the preaching of the gospel. His prophetic prayer has been fulfilled; there are now more than 1,000,800 members of the Church in South America.

Few South American countries have equaled the Church’s growth in Brazil. In 1994 the country, which covers almost half the continent, had 500,000 baptized members of the Church, more members than in any other nation in the world except the United States and Mexico.

The seeds of the gospel were actually planted in Brazil two years before Elder Ballard’s prayer. In 1923 a family from Germany immigrated to the country. In search of opportunity and “a place where the Mormons can’t find me,” Robert Lippelt chose Brazil because he’d been told there were no Church members there. He and his family settled in Ipomeia, a small peasant village.

While Mr. Lippelt was avoiding the Church, his wife and children were not. They had joined the Church in Germany after the oldest Lippelt son, who was sick, shared a dream with his sister.

“Today I saw our grandparents,” he said. “They told me that on Thursday I will pass away. They said they would be waiting for me. They also told me that the true church of Jesus Christ is in this city, and they gave me the address.”

The youth did die, yet Mr. Lippelt had no interest in investigating the address. But Mrs. Augusta Lippelt and her three remaining children searched for the Church and were baptized.

After moving to Brazil, Sister Lippelt missed the Church and finally wrote to Church headquarters in Salt Lake City. In response, the president of the South America Mission, Reinhold Stoof, visited Ipomeia and the Lippelts. Impressed by the family and the entire community of German immigrants, he sent missionaries to the area. A few years later, Brother Lippelt joined the Church.

As predicted by Elder Ballard, Church growth was slow for many years. During World War II, missionaries were withdrawn from the country, and the growth of the Church in Brazil almost halted. In 1948 the work began anew. In 1966 Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Quorum of the Twelve created Brazil’s first stake.

Almost ten years later, in 1976, members attended the first Brazil area conference. At the time, Church membership in Brazil totaled 75,000; it had taken more than four decades to reach that number. But the area conference, as well as the opening of the São Paulo Temple in 1978, seemed to be a catalyst for renewed growth and enthusiasm. Church membership had doubled by 1983, doubled again in the next several years, and reached more than 310,000 members in 1988. Today there are almost 530,000 members in Brazil.—Demar Staniscia, Brazil Area public affairs director